New David Bowie AR App Released, Along with Rare Demos Too

Posted on 11th January 2019 by Kevin Holmes

David Bowie photographed with a mask at Frida Kahlo's house and museum in Mexico City in October 1997. © Fernando Aceves

It’s a bittersweet week for David Bowie fans. Because not only would it have been the musician’s 72nd birthday on 8 January 2019, but the 10 January marks the 3rd anniversary of his death. He’s, of course, left behind an enduring back catalogue of great music though and some enduring haircuts and outfits too.

And his legacy lives on in a new AR app which was released on his birthday. It was revealed last year that a David Bowie AR app was being released, which is based on the hugely popular V&A exhibition. The exhibition looked at Bowie’s life and music, his style and influences. After having a run at the V&A in 2013 it then toured the globe, before ending last year. But now it lives on permanently in the digital realm.

Bowie studying a mural by Diego Rivera in Mexico City in 1997. © Fernando Aceves

The app, called David Bowie is, features more than 50 3D Bowie costumes and users get to explore the whole museum show, plus some extra stuff that hasn’t been seen before. Which means 400+ high res images of Bowie’s costumes, along with sketches, notes, music videos, handwritten lyrics. Plus archive footage, drawings and photos.

They include his iconic 1972 show at the Rainbow Theatre, the Sound & Vision Tour from the 90s, live clips from 1974 Diamond Dogs Tour and concept art from his Black Star music videos.

And not only that, but it’s introduced and narrated by Bowie’s longtime friend Gary Oldman too. “This brings the amazing David Bowie is exhibition to a wider audience,” said Oldman in a press release. “It’s great that his fans get to experience it. It was a privilege to be involved.”

David Bowie poses at a photocall for his 'Sound & Vision' Tour under a K.West sign, emulating the cover of 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'. The image was taken at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park. © Dave Hogan

Bowie and Oldman both come from South London and met in the 1980s. Oldman once said, “I see him less as 'David Bowie’ and more as Dave from Brixton and I'm Gary from New Cross.” Along with that Oldman starred in the music video for Bowie’s “The Next Day” and they were both in Julian Schnabel’s film Basquiat released in 1996.

And if it’s more of Bowie's music you're after, then there’s some unreleased rarities coming your way too. This year is the 50th anniversary of the release of Bowie’s debut hit song, “Space Oddity”. And to celebrate Parlophone are releasing a collection called Spying Through a Keyhole (Demos and Unreleased Songs) from that period. The title, according to the press release, comes from a previously unknown song called “Love All Around”.

David Bowie filming the May day Parade in Moscow in 1973. Photographer Geoff MacCormack recalls, "We were given a list of do's and don'ts when we arrived in Siberia to board the 'Trans Siberian Express' - what we could and couldn't photograph - so David was breaking a whole stack of rules by filming the event, considering the amount of military hardware on show. That's why he's looking a little furtive." © Geoff MacCormack

The collection of 7” vinyl singles will not only feature the earliest known version of “Space Oddity” but also nine recordings which haven’t been available on physical music format before (Parlophone did a limited streaming release of them last December). Parlophone state that, “Most of the recordings are solo vocal and acoustic home demo performances.” Which, although means the recording quality isn't the best, it gives the demos an intimacy and that fans will no doubt appreciate.

As Parlophone note on their site, “Due to the nature of some of the solo home demos where Bowie accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, the recording quality isn’t always of a usual studio fidelity. This is partly due to David’s enthusiastic strumming hitting the red on a couple of the tracks, along with the limitations of the original recording equipment and tape degradation. However, the historical importance of these songs and the fact that the selections are from an archive of tracks cleared for release by Bowie, overrides this shortcoming.”

You can download the app on iOS and Android. And you can find out more about the new singles collection here.